**** URGENT RECOMMENDATION ****
ISSUED: Tuesday, August 9, 2016
Railroad: Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority
Based on condition of the interlocking located outbound of Twinbrook station on the Red Line, which has resulted in the unscheduled segment shutdown on August 13-14 from Grosvenor to Shady Grove, as well as speed restrictions while traversing across the switch points, we recommend that one of the following two urgent actions be taken:
16.8.1- Immediately extend the single track zone from Twinbrook to Grosvenor, with trains utilizing the pocket track at Grosvenor. Trains that were originally planned to terminate at Grosvenor would terminate at Medical Center station with use of dropback operations. Train headways would increase to approximately 30 mins.
16.8.2- Implement an 8-car shuttle train to operate between Grosvenor and Shady Grove via Track 2. All Shady Grove trains would instead terminate at Grosvenor and Grosvenor trains would terminate at Medical Center and be signed as Special.
These recommendations will ensure safety of passengers and allow early work to commence on the Twinbrook interlocking.
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